Tuesday, April 30, 2019

38 degrees - Thirty-eight Degrees!!!!

Honestly it feels much more like the beginning of March than the end of April; the plants feel that way too. What is happening (or not happening) in the garden and yard is really more like March also. Even the trees seem late. Sunrise yesterday. (Clicking on photos enlarges them.)


Recently litter-sisters Totty and Pila had their color genes tested by Paw Print Genetics and surprised me with their results.  I was expecting that they would both be tricolor chocolate-brown Icelandic Sheepdogs. Instead of having two at-genes (atat) for black & tan, Pila had two aw-genes for wolf gray sable/agouti (awaw) and Totty had one aw-gene and one at-gene (awat). Of course they are both chocolate-brown.

Kit, Totty, Pila

Pila, Totty, Kit

So going back to the drawing board, I had my other dogs tested and will post the results as soon as they are available. People sometimes wrongly assume that I prefer chocolate-brown Icelandic Sheepdogs. I have said, and it bears repeating, that I strongly believe that one of the really nice things about Icelandics is that they come in a wide variety of colors and patterns and fur lengths and fur textures and temperaments. They are virtually all very intelligent which makes training them almost too easy - - - as long as new owners start with training them when they are puppies.

It's always a thrill when the perennials start showing growth early in the spring - even though they ARE late this year. Peonies are great when they're flowering but I find them just as interesting, though not fragrant, when they first push up above the ground.


This one is a plant that I started from seed a few years ago and therefore is a favorite. If you've never started a garden plant from seed, you should try. It's gratifying to know that it's possible to produce something unique, one of a kind!

Winter Aconite (after flowering)

Winter Aconite (after flowering)

Soooo - plant information: - Winter aconite easily self seeds and spreads. Look closely at the above two photos. A few have some upright stalks in the middle of each leaf which eventually release seeds (like peas coming from a pod).  Each individual plant has only one umbrella-spoke like leaf. So there are quite a few plants in that photo. Once the seeds leave the pods, they remain in the soil until the next spring when they sprout and show two little "seed leaves" or cotyledons. Look for those "baby plants" above.Those leaves work hard and make food which will be stored in a small bulb. The leaves remain green for only a very few weeks before withering. Its second year it grows a small umbrella-spoke type leaf which makes even more food and stores it in the developing bulb. It then also withers in the early summer. The third year, in most cases, it makes a larger single spoked-leaf to store more food. A few three year old plants bulbs may have made enough food to make their solitary first flower. By the fourth year virtually all the tiny bulbs will flower. It's possible to gather the seeds before they are released and spread them to other areas of the garden. Just sprinkle them on the soil and forget about them. (Be careful to avoid raking them up when they germinate next year - I know that's a long time to remember where they were released.) All the winter aconites in my yard were started from seeds I brought up from Royal Oak before I moved and they are doing great here.

Daphne


Daphne
Daphne also will self seed. I have close to a dozen plants here in my garden now and they all came from the reddish seeds I harvested from one plant I had back in Royal Oak. They are a small spring blooming bush-like plant; the flowers actually have a pleasant smell if you can get down close to the ground!

Hellebore

Pulmonaria

Cornelian Cherry (Cornus mas)

Cornelian Cherry (Cornus mas)

Tree Swallow



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